By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
FIVE men are now in custody assisting police with three murder investigations in Freeport and could be arraigned by the end of the week, as Assistant Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander and a team of officers from New Providence are in Grand Bahama assisting police on the island to bring closure to the matters.
At a press conference at police headquarters in Freeport, senior officers assured the public they were working hard to crack down on violent crime and said despite the recent killings, Grand Bahama was still a safe place to live.
ACP Fernander, the officer in charge of criminal investigations, led a team from the Homicide Squad to Grand Bahama following three murders that occurred in Freeport in less than a week.
The country recorded its first and second murders for 2018 when Joel Augustine, 40, was shot dead on New Year’s Day and three days later a second man, believed to be Kevin Roberts, an employee of Freeport Ship Services, was fatally shot at a nightclub.
ACP Fernander said based on initial investigations and evidence gathered, both matters are connected, and there are two individuals are custody.
“We are still in the preliminary stage of the investigations, and we are about to connect with the attorney general to review the file with investigators, and hopefully between now and the end of the week, we will have some persons going to court,” he said.
Another man, Anthawan Simms, was killed on Saturday night shortly after leaving the Agave restaurant in the popular Port Lucaya Marketplace.
Concerning the third murder, ACP Fernander said it was an isolated incident stemming from an altercation that happened earlier on Saturday evening.
“We have three individuals in custody, adult males who are assisting with that investigation. We feel good that at the end of the week we will have those matters closed,” ACP Fernander said.
He indicated that the release of posters of two suspects who are wanted for questioning in a murder is not for the recent killings, but concerning another matter.
ACP Fernander appealed to the public to assist the police and promised that information provided will be held in the strictest confidence.
“I also want to say to the Bahamian people, I know that you are alarmed about the three back to back murders in one week that occurred, but your police force has those matters in hand.
“I want to say this is one RBPF, one commissioner of police, and wherever in this country where our colleagues need assistance we can pull resources from throughout the force to assist, and that’s what you see going on right here as we speak. A number of detectives in the Homicide Squad are right here in Grand Bahama to assist in bringing closure to these recent matters.
“There is a concern, and I feel the pain of the community, and based on analysing the crime trends here in Grand Bahama, we believe there is a core group of individuals who are wreaking havoc, and we are here to disrupt that.
“Grand Bahama is not used to these kinds of activity, and we are here with the team from Nassau, combined with the team here, and we will move with the full arm of the law to bring peace and calm here,” ACP Fernander stressed.
Assistant Commission of Police Clarence Reckley assured residents that Grand Bahama is still safe, despite the recent murders.
“We want to advise the community to relax, yes we had three murders in the past few days. We can say that the persons responsible for committing these offences knew who they were looking for.
“We want to let the community know that Grand Bahama is still safe to live, and for them to continue with their regular way of life, and not to be afraid to venture out.”
Meanwhile, Dudley Seide, founder of Reach Out Youth Organisation and community activist, is appealing to young men to stop the bloodshed on the streets and put down the guns.
“We had three back to back murders in less than a week, and I am very concerned; it is alarming to me - we are in a crisis,” he said earlier Monday.
“I want to make a special appeal to the murderers who continue to wreak havoc in our country and to those young men that are pulling the trigger; they are killing out their next generation.
“But as of today, we need to stop the bloodshed on our streets. To see that we continue to lose our young men is heart-wrenching to me. You with the gun in your hands who thinking about revenge, think twice, please, because we are losing our young men,” he said
Bishop Joseph Leon Hall commended the police for the work they are doing in Grand Bahama.
“I am here with a heavy heart... Indeed, I must say we are in crisis. These are critical times in GB. Grand Bahama is in a collapsed state at this time, and this is a breeding ground for serious crimes.
“Our police officers are doing a tremendous job in GB, but to no avail, these criminals just seem to be hell-bent on committing heinous and serious crimes. As a man of God, I ask you to drop the guns and make the right choice,” he said.
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